Posted by Bill Gatten on December 08, 1998 at 24:53:53:
MLM,
In fact, a Realtor(r) is obligated to present ANY reasonable [purchase] offer you would present, whether he likes it or not. The key here, however, is to make your offer an "Offer to Purchase.? In other words, if you present an offer to “lease” with only the right to purchase later, there is no obligation on the Realtor’s part to do anything about it. Moreover, he/she would likely not want to anyway, since that cuts his commission way down. So the key is, you present the offer through the agent as an “Offer to Purchase via a Lease/Purchase,” rather than as a Lease Option. Then once you get your foot in the door, you can respond to the seller’s counters with anything you want. If he doesn’t counter, you have either no deal anyway, or you have a right to respond to the counter with you Lease Option idea.
Should work, but not worth spending money to sue anyone over, if the agent doesn?t know the law. UNLESS their refusal to do so could be proven to have cost you big money: e.g., if the seller were to take the same offer from someone else “brazen” enough to go behind the Realtor’s back, and you were to have been left with your refrigerator open (as it were).
Besides, the Listing Agreement that the Realtor(R) has with the seller commands payment of a commission if the seller does something on his own during the listing Agreement anyway.
There is nothing legal that prevents you from talking to anyone you choose to… about any subject you choose.
Use your better judgement here.
Bill